Introduction

We have already noted that there is a significant contradiction
between a simple model of the market system and the factual
history of the American experience. The United States has always
relied to some degree on the government as a creative economic
agent. On the other hand, it has also always had some degree (at
times a very large degree) of distrust of the competence of
government. Labor, agriculture, the small firm, the large
corporation, the Federal Reserve System and the government have
all interacted to produce a variegated economic system.

What we have presented here has been mostly the historical record
as explained by reason, theory and past experience. But what of
the future? Predicting the future in any area, much less the
dynamic, volatile field of economics, is a risky occupation.
Doubtless the future is influenced by the past, but even the past
is not without its contradictions. Furthermore, the future does
not have to rely on the past. No one knows what new ideas,
inventions or technical applications are around the corner. In
the past, such developments (and the effect on productivity rates
they can induce) have had far-reaching consequences for the
economic world. They have provided the answer to such questions
as: Which industries will flourish or fail? What kinds of jobs
will be made available? What will be the standard of living for
those who hold those jobs? And if it seems futile to speculate as
to the specifics of these changes, it might nevertheless be
useful to discuss the context in which they will take place.